By Gary Petit

ADA -— The 12th-ranked Ohio Northern volleyball team clinched its eighth straight Ohio Athletic Conference regular season title with a sweep of OAC-rival Capital Saturday afternoon in the ONU Sports Center.

The 30-27, 30-28, 30-28 victory was the 18th consecutive win for the Polar Bears (22-4, 8-0 OAC) and secured their 20th OAC regular season title overall.

“These girls have come long way this season,” said head coach Kate Witte. “The OAC was very strong this year.”

Three Polar Bears recoded double-digit kills, led by sophomore middle hitter Liz Schnelle with a match-high 15. Senior Laura Vuyk and freshman Melissa Goodman each chipped in with 13 kills.

Setter Katie Weininger had a stellar match with 52 assists and two key kills late in the third game.

Defensively, four Bears had double-digit digs. Libero Mandi Fought had a team-hgih 19 while Vuyk recorded 15 for her 19th double-double of the season. Sophomores Renee Berry and Liz Decima chipped in with 14 and 12 digs, respectively.

Capital (18-9, 3-4 OAC) was led offensively by OAC-kill leader Jessie Hampson and Allison Hostetler with 13 kills apiece.

The Crusaders opened the match on a roll and took a quick 13-7 lead in game one. ONU fought back with an 11-4 run to take a 19-17 lead. The teams traded points until the Bears took advantage of some mistakes by Capital followed by kills from Vuyk and Goodman to take game one 30-27.

Game two saw ONU ride the momentum from game one to take a 13-5 lead. A big kill by Hampson started the Capital comeback which saw the Crusaders tie the game at 26-26.

Two more kills by Goodman and an attack error by Capital finished out game two in favor of ONU 30-28.

Game three was tight throughout, with both teams making small runs, but neither team leading by more than four points.

With the score tied at 27-27, Weininger put away two perfectly placed kills followed by a kill from Vuyk to close out the match.

“Capital played very good today and had a great game plan,” said Witte. “The difference in the match was that at the end of each game, our girls found a way to close it out. That speaks to their toughness.”

ONU will close out OAC-action Tuesday night at Wilmington at 7 pm before traveling to the Emory (Ga.) Invitational next weekend.